About nikoli.com

What kind of site?

Nikoli Co., Ltd. is a publishing company which published the first puzzle magazine in Japan in 1980, and since then has specialized in puzzle publication.

The world-wide famous "Sudoku" puzzle was named by Nikoli company president Maki Kaji. We are the best puzzle company in the world, and have been developing and providing a wide range of puzzles. This is our web site!

None of these puzzles have been published before and all are totally new and original.

All the problems are made by Nikoli puzzle creators who make puzzles for our main magazine "Puzzle communication Nikoli" and all puzzles are edited by Nikoli editors. We are confident that all of these puzzles are fun and enjoyable and we are sure you will enjoy them.

The nikoli.com web site consists of two parts; nikoli.com with "Everybody's page" which can be accessed by anyone and a page which is only for the members. All new problems are released on the members page, but some problems will be available on Everybody's page. When you become a member, you will be able to check all new problems and also save your puzzle solving history. If you are thinking about becoming a member, check out the members page.

We stopped membership services.

How to enjoy puzzles of nikoli.com?

You can play the puzzles with your browser, but you will need the Adobe Flash Player. If you are using an old version of Adobe Flash Player, we recommend that you install the newest version.

If you become a member

As a member we will prepare your own exclusive page. There you will be able to record and see which puzzles you have solved and which are still unsolved by you. You can also save problems that you are working on. Each step in the solution of a puzzle can also be saved, and if you wish, you can make your history open to the public. If you do this last, you may be able to learn from others who are good (better?) at doing puzzles.

The nikoli.com site is accessed by a monthly membership fee. When you become a member, you have access to puzzles from the previous month (starting from the 11th of each month). We will make newly released puzzles available for 180 days, so if you are a member for 5 months, you will have 800 original problems to do anytime.

Fun in the members area

My Page

Members each have their own page called "My Page". There you are able to check which recent puzzles you have solved already, not yet solved, or saved as partly solved. Also, you can know how many puzzles you have solved among all the puzzles which are available for you, for each kind of puzzle.

The list of all your puzzles

In this page, the list shows all available puzzles which you can do arranged by the kind of puzzle. You can re-arrange this list by the size, level, published date and so on. And you can also check how many problems are left before the 180 day limit.

List of puzzles you solved and who else solved them

In this page, there is a list of solvers for each puzzle. You can see how many people had opened and how many people solved this problem. Also you can read the solvers' comments. This list can be re-arranged by solving time and step number. Then you can access the solving history of other solvers.

Self introduction

If you become a member, there is a place where you can register your self introduction. It can be opened by all members. When you click the nickname at the list page, you can see these self introductions. The quick solvers and funny commentator profiles will guide you the world of puzzle fun.

The pick of the puzzles

Even a masterpiece puzzle passes away 180 days after its publication. So we have kept the most popular puzzles which are voted by all members in this page. You can do it at any time. There are also voters' and author's comment. At the moment, Apr, 2017, the numbers of the pick of the puzzles is 665. It will increase every month.

Puzzle Championship

In this page, you can challenge all problems in puzzle championships. At the moment, Apr, 2017, the number of problems is in the 287s. Almost all problems are big sized and of very high level, so you will enjoy them for a long time. Only members can take part in the puzzle championships. We award the original nikoli.com T-shirts for the winner. How do you think it would feel to be a champ?

Botsu Bako

Among the submitted puzzles, there are some experimental or too unique problems that are not suitable for ordinary release. We say they are "going to the Botsu Bako," It means a box for extra special problems. In this page, we show what is in this box. You will also find why these puzzles were put in this box.